Shot Down
by MaximusPanis21
Summary: Articuno has always felt isolated from the other legendaries (and other Pokemon, in general). His life takes a turn when he's mistakingly shot down by the Sinnoh League Champion's no-nonsense female Garchomp, and forced to reside with her until his broken wing heals. Read as he faces the ups and downs of life and gets into many shenanigans with the fierce dragoness.
1. The Annual Summit

**Shot Down**

Chapter 1 – The Annual Summit

The time had come for the annual summit at Spear Pillar, a meeting mandatory for all legendary Pokemon, no excuses, designated by Arceus himself. Traditionally, the group of godlike beings would all have gathered for an intense and completely serious discussion on the state of affairs of the world, and each Pokemon would give a report on the events that had occurred in their own personal department. Every legendary had a role to play in this world; Kyogre, for example, was to watch and protect the seas, whereas Groudon, her fiery counterpart, observed the movement and development of the continents.

It just so happens that on this particular meeting, a certain blue-coloured Arctic bird was a bit behind schedule, and rushing to arrive on time.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" he mentally screamed at himself. "Arceus will have my feathers if I'm late again, especially after last time!"

Panting from exertion, Articuno sped through the landscape, recognizable only as a vaguely blue blur. While the Lati twins held the title of being the fastest flying Pokemon ever with speeds rivalling those of jet planes, Articuno's speed was nothing to be laughed at, not that most Pokemon dared to even snicker in the legendary bird's direction for fear of eliciting his wrath… except for Mew. Then again, Mew pranked and taunted everyone, even the terrifyingly strict Mewtwo.

Articuno, despite having spent most of his time in a barren, icy wasteland, shivered from the thought of either purple/pink-ish, long-tailed feline. Mew was playful, dangerously so, to the point where she may have well been torturing her playmates with how annoying she became due to her lack of maturity. The part-flying-type legendary could think of more than one instance when he would rather have been electrocuted by **Thunder** from a thousand Electivires than spend another second in her company. Mewtwo, on the other hand, was Mew's complete and utter opposite, despite his appearance and origin. Those piercing amethyst eyes of his, constantly analyzing and calculating their environment as though imagining the most efficient and ruthless manner to completely destroy the object of their attention, frightened Articuno from how they seemed to able penetrate his mind to the very core.

The tardy bird was quickly pulled out if his thoughts after being forced to swerve sharply from his course of travel to avoid colliding with the edge of rock poking out of the side of Mt Coronet. Nearly arriving at his destination, he exerted one last burst of speed before zooming through the portal at the peak of the mountain tops that led to the meeting.

~SD~

"And that is why we must remai-" Arceus' speech was suddenly interrupted by a loud bang of the doors opening, revealing the only absent member of the present company of Pokemon.

Articuno promptly collapsed into an unrefined heap onto the polished floor of the Hall of Origins, sweating and panting from the exhaustion from traversing all of Sinnoh and half of Hoenn within the past half-hour. For a second, shocked silence permeated the room.

The silence was broken by a rather cheery green Pokemon.

"Hey, Blue! How ya chillin'?" Celebi giggled from both the legendary bird's comedic appearance and her own clever pun. Several legendaries snorted, and Articuno attempted to save face by glaring at them, although his ridiculous appearance detracted from the severity of the look.

The unkempt state of the bird's normally majestic coat was merely the tip of the iceberg. The unnatural redness of Articuno's blue face from blushing caused his visages to take on a rather purple tint, similar to that found in berries only added to the hilarity of the scene. Finally, in an attempt to rise and move forwards, the bird's tail managed to tangle itself in his claws, causing the legendary to trip flat on his face in front of the entire assembly of Pokemon. This was apparently too much to bear for some. Palkia burst into full out roars of laughter, tightly gripping the central table of the meeting room in order to prevent herself from falling. Legendaries all around the room gave into the temptation to chuckle at Articuno's unluckiness. Even the normally stoic Suicune cracked a smile.

The floored- literally!- Freeze Pokemon blushed heavily from his position on the floor, but quickly rose and drifted towards his proper seat for the meeting. Soon, the laughter died down, and the room returned to its previous silence.

Once sure that no further interruptions would occur, Arceus once again began to speak.

"So nice of you to join us." the god dryly stated at the flustered Articuno. "But we must return to the matter at hand, or rather, the lack thereof. As you all know, there has been a recent lack of catastrophic events, surprisingly, both natural and man made. The criminal organizations around the globe have been silenced for the time being, and I believe it is about time for all of you to enjoy a well deserved break."

At this, all the legendaries cheered. Ignoring the reaction, Arceus continued.

"Please, you may all return to your abodes and rest. But be sure to remain vigilant and careful. Just because there hasn't been any disasters recently doesn't mean you can all let your guards down, I'm case some rookie trainer appears with a wretched Master Ball. Now, the meeting is adjourned." At this, the god disappeared in a flash of light, presumably to perform his duties as creator of the universe and all that.

The legendary Pokemon dispersed one by one, some pausing to chat or catch up, whereas others left in pairs or trios with their respective counterparts. Articuno moved to sneak out of the room, before (Arceus-forbid) she showed up-

"Hey there, hot stuff." He froze. Why, why, why, why did she have to see him? Oh right, because he had barged right into the middle of the meeting.

 _Might as well get this over with,_ he sighed. Turning around, the legendary plastered a strained smile onto his beak, before replying,

"Hey Moltres."

Said fiery avian batted her eyes flirtatiously in Articuno's direction, before stretching out her body to emphasize her graceful features.

"So... are you planning on doing anything tonight?" She spoke in a low, seductive tone, moving closer towards the arctic legendary.

Articuno cringed. In truth, Moltres' actions elicited the opposite response she had been aiming for.

"Uh, no- I mean YES! Yes. Something very important- legendary business, after all, that must be done ALONE. To avoid any, um, distractions; yes, distractions. So sorry, maybe another time?" _Maybe when humans stop catching Pokemon_ , he thought sarcastically.

Moltres looked truly disappointed. "Oh, alright then. Perhaps another time. I'm very flexible you know; in more ways than one." She ended with a whisper, before taking to the skies, presumably back to Mt Ember.

Preparing himself to also take off, Articuno shook his wings to relieve them of their soreness, before flying off into the clear blue sky at a leisurely glide... in the opposite direction of Moltres, of course.

~SD~

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the region of Sinnoh, a certain blonde-haired woman clothed in black, with hair accessories resembling black teardrops, was contentedly enjoying her double-scooped ice cream on a cone, as her Pokémon around her enjoyed the serene beauty of the forested clearing they were in. The woman in question was Cynthia Shirona, current Sinnoh League Champion and part-time ice cream connoisseur, and had decided to take herself and her Pokemon on a small trip to her private villa.

Garchomp was basking in the warmth of the afternoon sun, while Milotic and Gastrodon playfully splashed each other in a nearby river. Lucario was in the midst of his daily meditation to hone his aura. Spiritomb was up to his usual shenanigans, futilely attempting to steal some frozen desert from his trainer from his position, floating over her shoulder. Unfortunately for the ghost/dark type, however, Cynthia guarded her ice-cream _extremely_ jealously, perhaps even more protectively than her own champion status.

Unable to wait any longer for an opportunity to present itself, Spiritomb clumsily lunged over Cynthia's shoulder, but alas; his effort was in vain, as the trainer had subtly shifted the arm that held her treat to the right, causing the Pokémon to crash onto the hard, unforgiving ground, his outstretched tongue tasting nothing but air, then dirt and soil, in that exact order.

"Oww... Cynthia! Why won't you even share a lick of ice-cream?" Spiritomb moaned. Cynthia simply ignored the cries of the Pokemon and finished the frozen delight, whereas Togekiss giggled at the ghost's predicament.

"Very well. Since Spiritomb seems to be so full of energy, you all must be well rested for more training." Cynthia grinned evilly. "Perhaps some endurance training will suffice." Upon hearing of more physical torture from the champion, all 6 Pokémon simultaneously groaned, 5 of them glaring at the aforementioned ghost.

"Arceus damnit, Spiritomb!" Togekiss covered her face with her wings. "Thanks a lot."

"Sprint a few dozen kilometers for me, will you?" Cynthia cheekily asked, knowing none would dare to outright disobey her. In a fit of rage, Garchomp unleashed a terrifyingly massive hyper beam, which disappeared into the sky. Cynthia, unfazed, didn't even blink.

Suddenly, a screech full of agony pierced the sky, causing everyone to jump on shock. It appeared to have originated from where Garchomp's hyper beam had been directed.

"I, uh, believe it would be best if someone checked that noise out… please?" Cynthia, still fairly spooked by the sudden sound, said in a shaky voice.

Everyone immediately looked at Garchomp.

"What? Why me?!" the dragon all but screamed.

"Well…" Milotic reasoned. "You are the strongest and most experienced out of all of us, even if we don't like to admit it."

"Ugh. Fine." Garchomp rolled her eyes, before taking off.

"We hope you don't come back!" Spiritomb yelled out at the dragon's disappearing figure.

~SD~

"Today literally cannot get any worse." grumbled an irate Articuno. "First, some Rattata thought it would be funny to steal my breakfast, so I had to begin my day with an empty stomach. Then, I ended up late for the annual legendary meeting, and made laughingstock of myself in front of everyone. Now, I have to fly all the way back to Kanto to reach my home. I can't catch a break! Arceus!"

Unbeknownst to Articuno, however, his day was about to become a Distortion World of a lot worse.

Closing his eyes in an attempt to find even a semblance of peace, the legendary bird heard nothing except the wind whistling past his face, the cries of a flock of Pidgeys, the thrumming vibrations of an incoming hyper beam.

Wait, what?

A searing pain hit the ice-type full-force right in the middle of his abdomen, blasting him out of sky. Black spots and pretty little stars danced across his vision, as Articuno felt himself getting increasingly woozy during his downwards spiral. The ground approached at an alarmingly fast pace, and just before the darkness fully claimed him, Articuno had time for one last thought.

 _Fuck_.

* * *

 **Started:** August 6, 2016

 **Finished:** August 9, 2016

Hi everybody! My name's MaximusPanis21 (laugh if you get the joke)! I'm pretty new to writing fanfiction, so I would really appreciate any reviews/advice/help. I dunno. This is my first story, and just the result of a little brain fart I had. Anyway, thanks, and see you later for the next update!


	2. Shot Down

**Shot Down**

Chapter 2 – Shot Down

"What the fuck are you?"

Articuno groaned, turning over in his pain-induced slumber. "No, Moltres. I already have a boyfriendddd..."

His tail feather twitched, and his left wing moved to block out the sunlight intruding on his much-needed beauty sleep. Bad decision.

A white-hot spike of pain drove itself into his skull, as his wing screamed in dissent, shocking his eyes wide-open. His body hurt everywhere, from the tip of the crest on his head to the end of his tail.

Fully awake now, Articuno gingerly rose to a sitting position and took stock of his surroundings. He appeared to be in the middle of a self-created clearing within a forest, at the end of a long furrow dug into the ground, most likely from his impact. Wincing, he slowly inspected his own body to insure nothing was damaged.

Unfortunately, fate was not on the blue bird's side, as his left wing was bent at a unnatural angle that made him nauseous just by looking at it.

"I said, what are you?" the same voice questioned.

"Huh?" Articuno blinked dumbly at the vague outline of a Pokemon his. Although his vision had yet to clear, he had to be blind to miss that this intruder was female and also, ahem, _very_ beautiful.

Apparently, the intruder decided Articuno's excessive staring was unappropriate, and found it fit to slap him. Hard.

"Oww!"

"Stop gawking at me, you pervert! What are you, stupid or something? I asked you a question! What are you? Who are you? What the fuck are you doing here?" she interrogated.

Once Articuno's vision cleared up, he was able to make out the entrancing figure of a purple, winged dragon with a red underbelly and yellow star on her forehead. She was, unfortunately however, currently glaring at him.

"By Palkia! What's wrong with you?! Do you have problems understanding me? Me, Garchomp, you…?" The self-proclaimed Garchomp demanded, rather frustrated.

"…Articuno. Where am I?" The confused bird asked.

"Finally! We're getting somewhere!" Garchomp threw her hands- Err, claws?- up in the air in pure relief. "Although… I've never seen a Pokemon like you before. We're in Black Forest, within the lands of Cynthia's villa. Now, what are you doing here?"

It was Articuno's turn to pause and think. "I don't really know… One minute, I'm flying peacefully back home; the next, I'm blasted out of sky." He looked at his broken wing. "Tyranitar's shit, how am I supposed to get home now?"

"Yeah… that's terrible." Garchomp avoided Articuno's eyes. "We should probably get you to a Pokemon Center to get that with of yours checked out."

"NO! No Pokemon Centers!" Articuno burst out, before awkwardly trailing off. "They, uh, make me anxious."

"Why?" asked Garchomp suspiciously. "Are you wanted or something?"

The legendary snorted. "You could say that."

Suddenly, Articuno found his back painfully pressed against the ground, with his wings eagle spread and pinned down by the dragoness, completely unable to move. His eyes grew wide at the sight of a _very_ sharp talon at his throat. He gulped.

"Are you a criminal?" demanded Garchomp fiercely. "Do you work with Team Galactic?" She dug her talon deeper into his throat.

"Okay! Okay! Let's not get ahead of ourselves here." The prisoner laughed nervously. "No, I am not a criminal, and I most _definitely_ do not work for _any_ terrorist organization. How could I?"

Garchomp lowered her talon infinitesimally. "What do you mean, how could you? Are you special or something?"

Realization dawned upon Articuno. "Wait, you mean to say… that you don't know who I am?"

Choler colored the dragon's face. "Of course I don't! Why do you think the first thing I asked you was 'what are you'?"

Shock made itself evident on Articuno's face. It wasn't everyday that he was pinned by an admittedly attractive dragoness who didn't fawn over him due to his status as legendary, after all. Blushing, he looked away when he realized what a compromising position they were in.

Oblivious to Articuno's discomfort, Garchomp only pushed herself closer onto him. "Hey, birdbrain! I asked you a question!"

Still blushing, Articuno decided that the best course of action would be to lie; she might have a trainer, you know. Stammering, he barely enunciated the words out properly, "Uh, I just said how could I, because, um, I just really don't like bad guys. Who abuse Pokemon. You know?"

Unconvinced, Garchomp, fortunately for flustered ice-type, decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, and slowly stood up. Given freedom again, Articuno immediately scrambled backwards, yelping when he accidentally put his weight on his bad wing.

Garchomp had the grace to look sympathetic at the injury. "Well, regardless of whether or not you are 'wanted', you should still treat that wing."

Kneeling down next to the bird, Garchomp began to slowly pat down his wing. "Tell me when it starts to hurt, alright?"

As soon as she reached the forearm, Articuno let out a cry of pain. Garchomp grimaced. "As I thought; you have a fractured bone right there. You'll need a splint or something to stabilize it, so please try not to move before I come back."

Just before the dragon could turn away, though, Articuno quickly grabbed onto her, and voiced one of his main concerns. "Err, just before you go... You don't have a _human_ with you, do you?"

Garchomp glanced at him. "Why does it matter if I do or not? Cynthia's awfully nice towards all Pokemon, except those who try to take her ice cream. Although she is a tad, uh, obsessive when it comes to researching legendary or ancient Pokemon."

Articuno paled. "Heh heh, you know what? My wing doesn't feel bad now! In fact, I'm fine! Just fine! I'm just gonna, uh, go now. Thanks, though!" Articuno was just starting to sneak away, when he felt a claw tighten around his crest.

"Oh no you don't! You're hurt and you need help! I'll be damned if I'll just let you walk off and hurt yourself even _more_!" Articuno was suddenly yanked downwards by his head feathers, causing his to flop onto the ground in defeat.

"Oww… fine. But can you please please _please_ not tell her to come here?" The once might legendary pleaded desperately.

Garchomp merely huffed in his direction, before giving a curt nod, and flying off.

Articuno slumped back down. _What have I gotten myself into?_

~SD~

Night had already fallen over the sky by the time Garchomp had returned to Cynthia's villa. Knowing that she had to get into the kitchen, where Cynthia kept all the first aid, she intelligently decided to avoid passing through the master bedroom.

Quietly pushing open the door, Garchomp snuck a quick peek into the house to make sure no one was awake, before tiptoeing inwards in search of some potions, a splint and some bandages. Soon enough, she had collected all the necessary items from the Medical Aid cabinet and, against her better judgement, also took some strawberry-flavored ice cream from Spiritomb's "secret stash". Quickly ensuring she had left no evidence behind, the dragon snuck out and flew off.

~SD~

It had already been an hour since Garchomp left, and Articuno was beginning to worry. What if she had told her trainer that he was here and the human was coming to capture him in his weakened state? What if Garchomp had been forcefully returned to her Pokeball and wouldn't come back? Or worse; what if she was coming, and her "helpfulness" had all been a façade? What if she was coming back with a clan of dragons, hungry for a late snack?!

 _No! Don't think like that! Garchomp would do something like that… would she?_ A nagging voice at the back of the legendary's mind that him he had only known her for a few fleeting minutes. How could he know what she was really like? He wasn't psychic-type, after all!

 _Shit. And thus, the great winter beast shall die. I can see my grave already; 'Here lies Articuno… or what remains of him. He got shot out of the sky by a random hit, was fooled by some pretty face, and got eaten.' I don't even get to die saving the world._ Articuno thought miserably. _Stupid, stupid, stupid_. He proceeded to repeatedly smack his head on the trunk of a tree, as if to berate himself one final time before his death.

"I leave for an hour and this is what I come back to. Are you trying to end your miserable existence by brain trauma? Cuz I can think of faster ways to go."

Articuno yelped at the sudden intrusion, and reflexively let out an **Ice Beam** in the voice's general direction. "St-stay back! I'm not going down without a fight!"

When the dust cleared, it revealed a very irritated Garchomp (alone, thank Arceus), her entire face covered in a thin layer of frost, seemingly unaffected by the supposedly "super-effective" attack. Growling, she pounced onto the frightened bird, who let out a loud squawk, characteristic of terrified Pidgeys, and dug her **Dragon Claw** into his shoulder.

"Listen here, you good-for-nothing pile of Tauros crap. If you're going to want to live off of my sheer, magnanimous generosity until you wing heals, we're going to have some _rules_ in place. Rule 1: you do _not_ leave the confines of this forest, or you will die. Rule 2: you do not approach the villa in this forest or you will die. Rule 3: you do anything that remotely pisses me off and I will personally ensure that you. Will. Die. Understood?" To emphasize her point, the furious dragoness used **Scary Face**. When Articuno didn't respond out of sheer terror, she dug her claw deeper into his should, eliciting a cry of pain. "UNDERSTOOD?"

Weakly, Articuno managed to get out a shaky nod, before he was unceremoniously dropped onto the ground by Garchomp.

"Good." She then proceeded to bind Articuno's wing, resulting in a fairly decent sling, before apathetically spraying some antiseptic onto his wounds, ignoring the patient's hisses. "There. Now go to sleep. I'll be back in the morning." The dragon said, before flying off back to her trainer.

Articuno merely stared at her shrinking figure in the sky, before letting out a shaky breath in relief and a sliver of pride tinged his cheeks. Relief that that nightmarish Pokemon had left, and pride that he had managed to not wet himself during her tirade, as any Pokemon would be.

Laying down to sleep, he tried not to let thoughts of tomorrow terrorize his mind as he dozed off from exhaustion.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Started:** August 9, 2016

 **Finished:** August 12, 2016

Hey y'all! Miss me? Probably not cuz not a lot of people have read this story yet... Also, did you see that _absolutely amazin'_ pun I stuck in? "Choler colored'? Hahaha...

Anyway, thank you to my first 2 reviewers, DracoSheild234 and Kurama The Platinum Zoroark! You guys probably made my day when I read your blurbs!

DracoSheild234: Thanks, and yeah, I really did not think the meeting through all the great, did I? Well, I assume Palkia probably opened some wormholes from the Hall of Origins to the homes of some hard-to-reach legendaries, ie: Kyogre. Also, I have no clue what's going on in Pokemon after Gen IV (haha), so most post-Sinnoh Pokemon (who's Hoopa anyway?) probably will not make an appearance.


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